


Druids and their Tattoos

by wisepuma23



Series: Merlin, Son of Wilderness [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magical Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisepuma23/pseuds/wisepuma23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone comes knocking on Hunith's door, a band of Druids are only the beginning of Merlin's grand story to becoming the most powerful magic user that ever lived and ever will be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Knock

Merlin was six winters old when there was a knock on his front door, right in middle of Mum’s bedtime story. Mum's words stilled in the night air, as another knock reverberated through the one-room house. He started to stumble up but was quickly shushed and tucked hastily into bed. Merlin could feel his magic flare up uncertainly, “Mum?” and looked wide-eyed at her in fear. What if Will finally tattled on him? What if someone saw and it was Camelot’s soldiers at their door?

His magic reached out and instinctively tugged on the corner of Mum’s plain dress, like he used to do when he was younger.

“Merlin, please go to sleep.”

Merlin sullenly pulled the covers higher and forced his eyes to shut as the door opened. He had every intention to eavesdrop but sleep overtook him quickly. Merlin tossed and turned as he dreamed of fires tall as a man and being tied to a stake. Everyone in Ealdor watched him silently as he sobbed, crying out for his Mum, as the fires grew higher and hotter. He was sure that Mum was already dead.

\---

“Merlin! Wake up! Mum is here, your Mum is here.” Merlin blearily woke up, confused that the night hadn’t gone away yet. He saw a strange man in green robes held up high on the wall, with his head touching the roof. He wiped his tear tracks and snot on his brown sleeves as he looked around for Mum. His heart clenched painfully in his small chest as he realized she wasn’t in the house. His magic held the man higher until he had to droop his chin to his chest to avoid injury, the man was saying something.

“Em-Merlin, your Mum is outside talking with my chieftain, he’s a Druid. She’s safe, I give you my word, she’s _okay_. Please let me down, I mean no harm. _Your Mum is outside_.” the man had started calmly but deteriorated into near-hysterics as his magic squeezed. Merlin’s throat felt weird and croaky, probably he cried in his sleep again. Usually Mum gave him warm milk and sang him back to sleep. His memories of his nightmare flashed in front of his eyes again, and the overwhelming feeling of loneliness that told him that Mum was gone.

He had to find her!

Merlin was searching under his bed for his boots when he heard the door open again. He whirled around as his magic quickly held the two new people next to the strange man, but not as high. They gasped and breathed for air from the impact.

“Merlin! Put me down right this instant, I am your Mum! You shouldn’t be awake at this hour of the night.” Mum scolded as his magic let her down gently, but softened as Merlin hugged her tightly around her legs.

He sniffled as he told her of his nightmare, and she led him to the table where they ate and gave him warm milk. Mum ignored the two men still hanging on the wall, except for a passing admonishment to slightly lower the younger strange man from the ceiling. After Mum had hugged him to his heart’s content and many reassurances that she was fine, she finally acknowledged them.

“Merlin, they’re Druids and they have come to help you.”

“Help me with what?” Merlin had said with suspicion.

“Your magic.” Mum held tightly as he recoiled in fear. “No, my little bird, they will not harm you.”

Merlin calmed down until a thought struck him; “Are they going to take me away?”

“Mer--”

“No! They can’t take me, I don’t want to leave!” Merlin struggled in her grip, he wanted to lash out at the prone men, his magic churned angrily like a storm. It wanted to snarl and snap and _break_.

“Merlin!” Mum chided and kneeled to his level, and Merlin looked away in shame. He knew Mum didn’t like what she saw in his eyes during a bad moment, though she never said so. He stayed silent as she said her next words. 

“I’ll be coming with you, and it’s only for a day. We’ve known for a while now that the _exercises_ have been getting less effective. I’m doing this to keep you safe, do you understand?” Mum said kindly, and Merlin reluctantly agreed that the ‘game’ taught from a very young age to wrap his hands in an imaginary binding to conceal his magic has been weaker of late. 

“Now, let them down, it’s not just little boys that need to sleep. They’ll be back in a week, and I’ll tell my neighbors that we are visiting your father’s grave, and don’t you tell that boy William anything else.” Mum said firmly, and with a hint of motherly warmth underneath the command. 

“Yes, Mum.” Merlin pouted as he released the Druids, and walked back to his bed without turning around. He fell into a peaceful sleep with Mum stroking his head as he tuned out the quick footsteps and the creak-click of the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunith brings her son to the Druids a week later like she promised, hoping she didn't make the wrong decision.

Merlin kept his promise and didn’t tell anything to his best friend, Will. So now, they were standing outside of a cave only a few hours from his village. Mum had made him wear loose and plain clothes despite the growing chill of autumn. He squeezed her hand as the Druids from a week ago stopped at the very entrance of it. Suddenly, he felt Mum pulling her hand away from his smaller one, Merlin looked at her quickly with surprised eyes. Mum?

“I’ll be waiting just out here for you. I’ll be right here, I promise.” Mum looked at him with a strange look, and her eyes seemed to glisten in the early morning light. Mum quickly pulled him into an embrace tightly, and Merlin stiffened in surprise but relaxed as he registered the familiar smell of fresh earth and the sweat of a hard day’s work. Mum didn’t seem to care that her dress was getting dirty on the forest floor as she tucked his wayward curls out of his eyes.

“I’ll be waiting right here, and we’ll be making your favorite meal at home. You’ll be a very brave boy, okay?” Mum said with an uncommon obvious fondness, then stood up to push him toward the Druids. Merlin wanted to protest but he didn’t want to disappoint his Mum, he knew she worried. If this eased her worries, then Merlin would do it, so he walked with the Druids into the darkness into the cave. 

It was when he noticed the daylight behind them started to disappear, that he saw the torchlight ahead. He also noticed with unease that the Druids were positioned that one was in front of him and the other behind him. The cave finally opened to a large round cavern, and there was a stone slab in the center of the torches. The slab was long enough for a man to sleep comfortably, even if he stretched his limbs. Merlin also noticed a few bowls on the bed of bone needles and ink.

“Merlin, please sit down, we will explain.” the older Druid spoke softly, his face was lined with kindness. Merlin sat down without a word, his legs dangled as he gestured impatiently for the man to continue.

“We will tattoo runes into your back and eventually curl around your legs. These runes will have a very subtle purpose; to help rein you and your magic to be more manageable.”

“To control me?” Merlin said with an eyebrow raised.

“No, more to guide you, to give you advice and help develop character traits that otherwise would fall to the wayside. These runes may fade many decades later, but you will have the decision to either renew them or to follow your own intuition.” the Druid reassured him.

“Like what kind of runes?” Merlin asked with an irritated huff.

“ _Geþyld_ , for patience.” the man said with an amused twinkle in his eyes. Merlin’s magic seem to perk up at the strange language, it had an air of Mum’s home cooking about it. Merlin shook his head, he really was a freak if he thought languages had a _smell_. However, the atmosphere in the cavern suddenly became charged with anticipation. The man had softly commanded him to take off his shirt and lay stomach down on the slab. 

Merlin tried not to shiver from the cold rag that wiped down his back, it had also slightly stung. He hadn’t been paying attention to the slightly younger Druid, but now he was waving around lit herbs around the room. Merlin was about to ask what he was doing, when he suddenly felt drowsy and slow as the smell became more heavy. Colors and shapes became less defined, and Merlin felt like he was in the annoying state between awakening and dreaming. Then he felt something prick his back with the touch of a feather, quick and graceful. He wanted to tense automatically at the sense of pain--how slight it might be--but the herbs had him lethargic to the point to stillness.

“ _Ѐar_ and _Ræd_ , intertwined together, it roughly translates to ‘wisdom of the earth’.” the man’s voice rumbled as he felt more slight pain on his back. 

“ _Sibb_ , to be tranquil as a lake.”

The stings came with each translation, and Merlin waited for his magic to kick like an untamed stallion, but instead it seemed to be enjoying it. Merlin truly didn’t understand his magic sometimes.

“ _Árfæstnes_ , to have mercy and know to stay your hand. To know when to stop.” Pain. “ _Mihtmód_ , and the opposite also must be true, this translates to pure passion, to be able to fight for what you believe to be true.”

“And finally, _Orþanc_ ; intelligence, however it doesn’t make you be more intelligent, you have to remedy that yourself.” the man laughed to himself, “But it does encourage what is already there, and develop your common sense.” 

Merlin wished he could at least wince as the needle did it’s final design on his back. He tried to move from his prone position, but the scent of the herbs was still deep and musky in the cavern. His magic seemed uninterested in moving as well, it curled in the center of his chest like a lazy cat in a noon’s light. 

“Would like to see the designs, Merlin?” the Druid asked softly.

Merlin nodded minutely in agreement, maybe Will will think it was cool. The Druid seemed satisfied with his answer and murmured a quick spell to conjure a ball of water from the bowl. Another murmured incantation and the water seemed to turn still and it was clear as Mum’s small mirror hidden in her drawer.

Merlin started in surprise as he saw himself with golden eyes, and it wasn’t fading like he saw when he did stuff of front of Mum’s mirror. A question was on the tip of Merlin’s tongue but it faded as he saw the water move. He moved his cheek parallel to the ground and saw the intricate designs of runes on the only top right side of his back.

“We’ll cover your back over the years and eventually around your legs. We’ll visit every one or two years, when it’s the safest time.” the man explained as he packed the instruments into a bag nearby. "It’ll be runes for now, but only when you are growing into your birthright, that we will add symbols and teach you how to utilize them."

The Druids walked to the entrance of the cave and the younger one had picked up the hung torch by the entranceway. They were only stopped by a cough and weak mumble.

“What’s your names?” the boy asked feebly, the magic and essence of the herbs still strong.

“Not of import, for we are nothing but threads in the Great Design.” the Druid elder replied tersely and left.

“The torch….” Merlin protested weakly.

“We’ll tell your Mum that she can come in, best to keep your eyes open for I’m sure they’ll keep glowing until the sun has traveled a handspan in the sky.” the younger Druid said with a small hint of callow malign. The man left swiftly after that, and Merlin was left to lie there with keeping his eyes open as long as he could. He didn’t dare to close them, not even when tears ran down his face in riverlets.

He tried to summon a simple flame, but his magic seemed content to sleep. Merlin grunted in frustration, he wasn’t sure if they had binded his magic, but it still flowed through his veins, or coaxed it to sleep. As if his magic was a beast best kept happy and tame, in fear if it lashed out and attacked.

It scared him.

He heard shuffling from the doorway and heard an unmistakable cry of _Merlin!_ and the stumbles of his mother trying to navigate the uneven floor in the dark. Merlin’s magic finally snarled at the fact the Druids haven’t even given her a torch, no longer indifferent to the world. He finally allowed himself to blink as he felt Mum’s warm and earthy hands stroke his face in reassurance. 

“Oh Merlin, what am I going to do with you?” Mum murmured in despair, and Merlin kept his eyes closed as Mum bumped her head with his.

His eyes opened, “Can you teach me how to read and write, Mum?” Merlin gave a small hopeful grin at Mum’s features softly lit from his eyes. 

She looked beautiful, like a real Queen.

Maybe she was, and Mum never told him.

“You want to?” Mum asked in surprise but quickly turned stern, “I’ll be teaching you the Queen’s English though!”

Merlin pouted but understood her reasoning, she shouldn’t encourage further damnation of her only son in such a small village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are lovely <3
> 
> and the next part is the last one, and the one after that is the short epilogue
> 
> C:
> 
> I really like tattooed Merlin so this is my take on how that happened and it's gonna play a role eventually in other parts so yay! :D
> 
> Also, it's okay to point out anything if it sounds weird or needs editing, just be nice about it C:


	3. Magical Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come for Merlin to receive a final lesson from the mysterious druids.

Will _did_ think it was cool, albeit a bit strange. Merlin was just glad that his friend wasn’t too mad that he had lied to him about going to his father’s grave. Will assured him that he _knew_ something was up, since he knew Hunith still believed her lover was still out there. Over the years, the Druids left his spine and part of his shoulder blades unmarked, and made the runes curl around his hips before the buttocks, to inside of his thighs, and curled tightly around his right leg. However, the runes on his left leg was more languid. It curled tightly around his thigh but only one long loop around his calf, that left the back of his left leg mostly bare with no runes. The runes finished with designs almost touching his toes, only on the top of the feet mind you. The years passed by and he was before his seventeenth winter when something had changed in the routine of his rune ritual.

Merlin slipped out of his clothes, no longer embarrassed about his form, since there was always new Druidic faces every appointment. He laid on his stomach and let his magic be coaxed to sleep as the herbs permeated the air. He raised an eyebrow in confusion when they had brought a bag of daggers with intricate designs along with the usual tools.

“Merlin, you are getting older and I believe it’s time for us to teach you the beginnings of tattooed magick.” an elder woman spoke and held out the bag, “So choose wisely, for this dagger will be with you for many years if you choose it so.”

“So you want me to stick my hand in there? I hope you guys know healing spells.” Merlin looked at the daggers warily, he could tell many of them were in prime condition.

“No, let your magic choose, it should know instinctively.” the woman corrected.

“I don’t even _have_ a place to sheathe it in my clothing. Much less need it.” Merlin was a simple farm boy, sure a dagger would be nice to cut plants and carve into wood. Will had a small knife that was gifted to him from his father many years ago, its handle well worn from use. Merlin had an inkling of an idea, and with a quick release of magic, he hovered all the daggers into the air side by side.

Merlin gasped in amazement, “You’d think you’re giving this to a king, not a bastard like me.”

The woman and some other nameless male druid looked between them for a few moments.

“This is simply from our vaults, this is all we have left. It didn’t feel right to give a fellow magic user a simple knife.” the woman assured him, confident in her duty as a Druid. Merlin didn’t tear his gaze away from the floating dozen of daggers, all the same size but completely different designs. Some glittered with telltale gold, or the handles made of firm silver, hilts flickering in the torchlight of jewels. He didn’t know which one to take! All of them were equal in beauty and marksmanship. 

_Let your magic choose._

Merlin closed his eyes and let his magic free. It flowed from him like the fog rolling off a shore. He felt the surrounding earth acknowledge him, a small greeting in a language long forgotten. He could sense the magic of the two Druids with him, bright as a candle next to his own roaring bonfire of Old Magic. Then he could feel the daggers being held in the tendrils of his own magic, then pushed his senses around each of them. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he let his magic guide him.

He dropped each dagger from his hold when his magic rejected it, for some reason or the other. Eventually there was only two daggers left hovering in the air, his magic torn between the two. On the left was a dagger with a handle wrapped in leather and runes on the front and back faintly written in the Old Tongue. Or the one on the right, the handle in silver with jewels on the front and back as well, but they seem to give off a strange atmosphere. He bit his lip in concentration but his magic took him far as it could.

Well, looks like he was gonna have to eye it. Merlin finally opened his eyes and had to hold back the urge to shut them again in the harsh torchlight. He waited until his eyes adjusted before looking at the two of them. One almost looked plain and the other more extravagant. He decided to use some of Mum’s common sense and dropped the ostentatious dagger to the ground. A farming boy wouldn’t have the dagger of a king. Obviously.

“Now what?” Merlin said drowsily in confusion, he wasn’t sure what a dagger had anything to do with tattooed magick.

“Like you said, you don’t have anywhere to hide such a thing,” the woman said as she plucked the dagger from the air and then sat at his left side, “or so that’s what you think.”

She picked up her tools and Merlin again wasn’t able to do anything as she carved something new in the space left bare on his left calf. Merlin’s eyes widened in surprise as he realized she wasn’t carving another rune, but rather an image of a dagger. He looked into a floating ball of water excitedly when she had finished. It looked like the dagger he chose, but without the colors. Just in black and white, he sighed, he wished he had more interesting tattoos.

“This particular part of tattooed magick is slightly more difficult than you are used to. You will be storing the dagger in you, encumbered in your magic.” the woman explained as she rolled up her left sleeve, revealing a small knife the size of a finger under her wrist. Merlin couldn’t help but gasp as she reached _into_ the tattoo and pull a real knife the same size out. The image previously was full of color, but it faded quickly to simple black and white when the knife was out. Merlin had to agree that it was incredibly useful.

“How?” Merlin asked wide-eyed, glad they were finally not droning on about the meaning of runes.

“Usually magic is part of your soul, and to most that means objects are simply wrapped in magic like a blanket. A nifty bag somewhere in ether. However, your magic is your soul, so my theory is that it must be stored in memory.” the woman said with no doubts clear in her tone.

“Theory?” Merlin asked nervously.

“Being born with magic is very rare, not much is known about how their magic works. Usually there wasn’t much time to study….” the woman trailed off, looking off into the distance.

“Much time?” Merlin asked alarmed.

“They combusted at the age of five, and went insane before that.” she answered bluntly, “However, you wouldn’t need to worry about such things, you have almost zero chance of combustion.”

Merlin was suddenly glad for the calming herbs in the air, for he was sure he could’ve fallen off the stone slab in shock. The woman stood up and gathered her things, her companion gathering up the torch.

“Leaving?” Merlin asked, his sentences shorter as the herbs grew almost sickeningly stronger.

“Yes. Think of it as homework, as you will. For it will be many years before we Druids visit again. Where you are going, you will be much harder to reach.” the woman said almost with a hint of sadness, along with a strange mix of hope.

“Where? Why?” Merlin asked futilely, already knowing her answer.

“Someday you will know.” the woman said simply and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Merlin called out weakly. The woman paused and motioned her companion to leave before her and pass the torch.

“Do the other Druids know about this? Do you guys put runes on other people too? Why me?” Merlin asked despairingly.

The woman turned and left without a word, leaving Merlin in the dark with only a dagger by his leg for company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments make the world go round C:
> 
> Also, tomorrow is the really short epilogue.
> 
> Just so you guys know, the next part will be up a few days later after this part is finished.
> 
> Yeppers yep!


	4. The Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The really short epilogue, but this merely is the end of the beginning.

_That first night in Gaius’ chambers many years later, when he had shown his runes and dagger hidden in his bag. He was advised by the old man to cover up such marks immediately, everyone knew the basic evidence of magical symbols. They had to, or it was off with their head. Gaius looked in his old dusty books for a simple spell of concealment, it would be suspicious if his ward never took off his clothes or showed his skin. He had finally found a very simple spell, it would conceal all major wounds and tattoos of the user, and required so little magic. Therefore, it was likely it would never be detected by other sorcerers and magical beings, for it was so deep beneath the radar. Merlin was also glad that it only needed to be casted once and never needed to be renewed or sustained. It was so strange seeing his back and legs so bare and pale._

_The dagger gifted to him by the Druids was used to save Arthur only a day later, it appeared from his new chambers into his shocked hand. It disappeared after Merlin cast it to cut the chandelier onto Mary Collins, and found it later obediently tucked back into his bag. No one the wiser. Merlin had tried over the years in Ealdor to store his dagger into his magic, but with no luck. However, after Mary Collins’ death, he tried it again. He undid the concealment magic around his tattoo, and tried to slip it in like a sword into a scabbard. It worked. Merlin went to sleep that night with a satisfied smile of accomplishment, barely remembering to tug the concealing magic over the tattoo like a second skin._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See ya guys in a few days!!! Then it's on to the next installment, which it's gonna be called "The Isle of the Blessed"
> 
> pretty spooky huh?
> 
> more tattoo magick and some foreshadowing
> 
> mwahahaha


End file.
